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Intangible assets and investments at the sector level: Empirical evidence for Germany

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  • Crass, Dirk
  • Licht, Georg
  • Peters, Bettina

Abstract

This paper investigates the role intangible capital plays for economic growth in different sectors in Germany. It consists of two major parts. In the first part, we aim at measuring investment in intangibles at the sector level. We shed light on differences across sectors but also compare these figures with investment in physical capital and with investment in intangibles in the UK as European benchmark. The second part explores the role of intangible assets for stimulating growth at the sector level by performing growth accounting analyses. We find that German firms have boosted investments in intangible capital from 1995-2006 by 30%. Furthermore, results reveal differences in the investment patterns among the UK and Germany. In nearly all sectors investments in design and computerized information are larger in the UK. In contrast, German firms invest a higher proportion of gross output in R&D in all sectors, and advertising is also more common except for the sector trade & transport. Intangible assets have stimulated labour productivity growth in all sectors. The contribution varies between 0.17 (construction) and 0.59 (manufacturing) percentage points. In manufacturing, financial and business services innovative property capital is the most influential type of intangible capital for labour productivity, followed by economic competencies and computerized information. In all other sectors, economic competencies play the most prominent role for labour productivity growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Crass, Dirk & Licht, Georg & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Intangible assets and investments at the sector level: Empirical evidence for Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-049, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14049
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Qing Li & Long Hai Vo, 2021. "Intangible Capital and Innovation: An Empirical Analysis of Vietnamese Enterprises," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-02, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    2. Kevin J. Fox & Thomas Niebel & Mary O'Mahony & Marianne Saam, 2017. "The Contribution of Intangible Assets to Sectoral Productivity Growth in the EU," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63, pages 49-67, February.
    3. Andrin Spescha & Martin Woerter, 2021. "Research and development as an initiator of fixed capital investment," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 117-145, January.
    4. Breithaupt, Patrick & Kesler, Reinhold & Niebel, Thomas & Rammer, Christian, 2020. "Intangible capital indicators based on web scraping of social media," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-046, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Hyunbae CHUN & MIYAGAWA Tsutomu & Hak Kil PYO & TONOGI Konomi, 2015. "Do Intangibles Contribute to Productivity Growth in East Asian Countries? Evidence from Japan and Korea," Discussion papers 15055, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Alexander Ebner & Fabian Bocek, 2015. "Best Practices as to How to Support Investment in Intangible Assets. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 101," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58258.
    7. Li, Qing & Vo, Long Hai & Wu, Yanrui, 2019. "Intangible capital distribution in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 1-1.
    8. Li, Qing & Wu, Yanrui, 2020. "Intangible capital, ICT and sector growth in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    9. Roth, Felix, 2019. "Intangible Capital and Labour Productivity Growth: A Review of the Literature," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 4, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    10. Crass, Dirk & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Intangible assets and firm-level productivity," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-120, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intangible assets; economic growth; sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • L80 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - General

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